


Within You

by Lucifers_Trash_Stash



Category: Labyrinth (1986)
Genre: F/M, Heartbreak, Heavy Angst, One Shot, Song Lyrics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 09:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16951236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucifers_Trash_Stash/pseuds/Lucifers_Trash_Stash
Summary: Jareth returns years later to remind you of your betrayal.





	Within You

**Author's Note:**

> A short drabble I wrote with the prompt “Go on without me.” I hope you enjoy!

With a flurry of movement, you launched out of bed and ran to your closet. You were certain your alarm had been set last night, and yet you woke up hours after you should have been at work with missed calls from your boss and irate voicemails asking where the Hell you were on your phone. Heartbeat pounding in your ears, you knew that if you didn’t get your ass in gear this instant, you wouldn’t hear the end of it. Your boss already had it in for you for some reason you weren’t sure of, but you didn’t want to give him any more reasons to prove him right.

Tossing open the closet door, the sight before you made you freeze. You knew this place before, you had seen it many years ago when you were just a teenager. But those were fantasies, you had told yourself. They weren’t real. And yet, when you stepped through the door and found yourself surrounded by the massive stone staircases that twisted upside down and sideways, resembling an M. C. Escher print, you knew it was real. You were back in his labyrinth.

Almost as if on queue, you had this sudden feeling of deja vu, finding yourself looking over the edge of the platform you stood on. Like clockwork, he stepped into frame, his long, lithe figure gazing up at you as he stood on the other side of the platform, almost as if hanging upside down. His unique blue eyes caught yours as he scowled.

“How you’ve turned my world, you precious thing,” that melodious voice of his called to you before you backed away from him. Trying to shake him, you tried to turn and run up the stairs behind you. Instead, you were met with Jareth, who now stood mere feet away from you.

“You starve and near exhaust me,” he continued, attempting to reach out for your arm. Instead, in a moment of shock at his sudden appearance, you found yourself falling over the edge of the platform. You cried out as your arms flailed in front of you, but instead you found your body whip around until you stood below the platform yourself. Pausing for a brief moment to catch your bearings, you walked down a set of stairs that was before you, hoping to get some distance between the two of you.

However, as soon as you reached the next platform, he was already standing before you. You didn’t have it in your heart to move, and he walked closer to you. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for you,” he said softly as he passed right through your being, as if he was an apparition. When you turned around to face him, he glared at you. He still dressed as nicely as he did years ago, wearing a red shirt underneath a black leather vest along with black slacks and pointed black shoes. He pointed at you, and with a snarl in his beautiful voice said, “I move the stars for no one,” and turned to walk off of the platform and disappear from your sight again.

Instead of running away, this time you followed him over the edge, aiming to confront this memory from your past. Was he really here? Or were you dreaming again? When you landed, he was nowhere to be found. You turned around the corner and followed the steps down (or were they sideways?) to try to catch up with him.

As you moved through the labyrinth, you heard Jareth’s voice again, “You’ve run so far, you’ve run so long.” It felt like it was on the other side of the room, but you weren’t sure how to reach it. You continued onwards, running up and down the sets of stairs and still feeling as lost as ever.

A couple of floors down, you saw him again, climbing up another set of stairs with his back to you. “Your eyes can be so cruel, just as I can be so cruel,” he sang out as he looked up and watched as you desperately tried to crawl down another platform just to reach him. He smirked and disappeared again, leaving you frustrated and lost.

“Though I do believe in you,” his soft voice took you by surprise as you found him standing right beside you, looking down at you with almost a sad expression on his face. “Yes, I do.”

Before he had the chance to turn around again, you shot your hand out and held onto his forearm in hopes it would stop him. Instead, you were pulled off of your own feet as you followed him down, down, down to the bottom of the Labyrinth. While he landed gracefully on his feet with a flourish, you toppled onto the ground, groaning as he stepped out of the way.

“Live without the sunlight,” he continued, turned away from you as if talking to himself. “Love without your heartbeat.”

As he began to walk away, you scrambled to your feet and ran after him, this time successfully catching him and turning him to face you. “Jareth, is this real? Are you really here?” you asked him, trying to shake the answers out of him.

With a huff, Jareth stared down his nose at you. “It’s insulting that you even have to ask. Truly, I am exhausted from having to live up to your expectations of me.”

You furrowed your brow. “What expectations?”

Jareth scoffed and shook your grip off of his arms. “Of existing, my dear. You called for me long ago when you were alone and scared and misunderstood by everyone else.” He gestured his hand to me. “Now look at you. You’ve been happy forgetting about me with your little adult job and responsibilities. Even though I was created for you, you tossed me aside and left me with no purpose.”

“Jareth,” I began, but was cut off just as quickly.

“No. I simply couldn’t stand the anger that has been inside me for years any longer. I wanted you to know how much it has hurt me so you can live with the pain just as I have,” Jareth closed the gap, his expression angry and yet his eyes full of hurt. “So go. Go on without me. Live with the guilt for the rest of your days.”

As he went to turn away you called out after him, “You really think I forgot about you, Jareth? You think that I wanted to grow up and get a job that I hate just to pay the bills? It kills me that I can’t have things back to the way they used to be. To not have to grow up.”

He hesitated for a moment, stopping in place as he considered your words. You saw his shoulders slump as he sighed softly. Without turning back to face you, he told you softly, “I can’t live within you.”

With a jolt you sat up in bed, a cold sweat running over your body. Frantically, you checked your phone. Your alarm hadn’t even gone off yet. There were no angry messages wondering where you were. Your job was safe.

Even so, there was a heavy feeling in your stomach that you couldn’t shake. Your dreams, they felt too real. You had no explanation for why you felt that way, just… something.

After a moment you realized your hands were occupied with something in your lap. You slowly looked down, and immediately felt the tears well up in your eyes. You turned his crystal ball in your hands, not as gracefully as he could of course, but you stared through the clear material as tears began to spill onto it. You brought it up to your face and hunched over, crying out as you lamented the loss of your dear friend, unsure if he was really gone or if he would come back again someday.

**Author's Note:**

> If you want to keep up with me, check me out on tumblr @lucifers-trash-stash :D


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